I'm building an urban bike (well, a bike to ride in town atleast) in order to help build some skills in jumping, dropping, manuals, etc... Stuff that I think might be a bit harder to learn on a 40lb free-ride bike. I have a Kona stuff that I picked up used, set up SS with 24's. It has a rigid fork currently and I had planned on replacing it with a Marzocchi Drop-Off, that I am taking off my other bike. With the lack of adjustment on the Drop-Off, I'm questioning whether I really want to put it on this bike now. I was thinking about maybe picking up a Pike but I wasn't sure I wanted to drop that much money, it probably costs more than the bike did.

So I guess my question is, will the Drop-Off be OK for a while or should I bite the bullet and get something that I'm not going to want to replace in a year?

I built a MOB and used a Rock Shocks Duke I had in my "spare parts" bin.. IT works fine, no issues with bunny hopping or at the jumps.. I have been ridding it for about 3 months now and it is starting to "loosen" up..

So I will be getting a DJ specific fork but using the old one allowed me to get out on the bike for 3 extra months that I could not have ridden if I had to save up for a new fork

And you may find the one you have will work fine longer who knows...

pick up a used fork.. something in teh 80-100 mm travel range..

Any suggestions for a quality Urban fork? Preferrably something that's reasonably priced on the used market.

80mm Sherman Jumper with a stiff spring. <----best ever

Any suggestions for a quality Urban fork? Preferrably something that's reasonably priced on the used market.

buy a used Sherman Flick and reduce it to 80mm, same as the Jumper and much much less money.

What nama said, get the Sherman Flick and knock that ho down. I've reduced a Firefly to 65mm before.

I've modified the spring on a Pike so that the U-turn went past 95mm.

I've modified the spring on a Pike so that the U-turn went past 95mm.


i was just thinking about pulling mine and seeing what could be done.. howd you do it?

Just keep running rigid, it will teach you to land with smoothivity.

Is there a good reason to run under 100mm on an Urban bike? Just wondering as everyone seems to be suggesting it.

The u-turn mechanism is stupid simple, I love it. It just threads into the spring until it hits the stop (more tightly wound coils in the spring). You just have to pull those coils apart so that the u-turn mechanism can thread through it, and then you can keep cranking the u-turn down.

Running under 100mm means that the axle to crown length of the fork is shorter, this drops the height of the front end and makes the head angle steeper. This means it will handle better and be easier to throw around. Suspension should only be there to take the edge off for urban anyways, a lot of riders run real stiff settings.

Thanks for the advice, not sure what i'm going to do. I found some good deals on forks but I'm just not sure that I want to spend any more money right now. I may just run the dropoff for awhile and see how it goes, otherwise there are some good Sherman Flick deals out there so that's probably what I'll get if I do pick up a new fork.

Just remember not to run those Shermans in the lowered position. The lowered position is for climbing only. If you get a Flick and decide to reduce it, shoot me a PM, and I'll help you out.

I have a new 2005 Z1FR3 and am waiting on a project nemesis slamm kit... The slamm kit allows you to drop the fork down to 100mm, 80mm, or 65mm of tuned travel...

How difficult of a project is it to reduce the Flick? I'm not the most mechanically inclined but more than that, I don't have alot of tools. No need to go into detail here, just a general idea of the difficulty.

I have no self control :( I just bought a Manitou Gold Label Series II. I think it should do everything I want and it wasn't much more than a used Flick and I wouldn't have to mod it. Atleast that's how I rationalize it to myself :)

How difficult of a project is it to reduce the Flick? I'm not the most mechanically inclined but more than that, I don't have alot of tools. No need to go into detail here, just a general idea of the difficulty.
Pulled off the Rapid Travel adjuster knob, the foot nut on the bottom of the left side lower, and the 20mm top cap on the left leg.

Removed the spring assembly. There's a little plastic wedge that turns to extend the metal "wings" at the bottom of the spring, I did not put this back in when I reassembled the fork.

Since I was doing a rebuild anyways. I removed both the adjusters on the right leg. Use a 8mm allen wrench and turn clockwise to unthread the dampener from the lowers. Removed the 20mm top cap and dampening assembly. This is the part where all the oil pours out or hits you in the face.

Pull the lowers off.

To access the travel assembly unit in the left leg, you will need to unscrew the assembly from the stanchions.

After you pull the assembly off, make sure the metal "wings" aren't extended. Then space out the assembly. I used rubber washers from garden hoses. Just stretch them out over the top of the assembly. Use as many as you would like to reduce the travel by. 30mm of spacers = 30mm less travel and 30mm lower axle to crown height.

Thread this assembly back into the left side stanchion.

Slide the stanchions back into the lowers, but not all the way. Before you thread the uppers and lowers back together, fill the semi-bath oil. 16ccs of oil in each lower leg. This oil is not for the dampener. So you can use any type of light oil. I also packed a lot of Manitou Prep-M grease under the new seals.

Thread the 11mm footnut back into the left leg.

Use something to push the rebound assembly to the bottom of the right leg. Turn your 8mm allen wrench counter-clockwise to thread it back in. Make sure it's nice and snug. Thread the rebound knob back on.

Grease the shi!t out of the spring. Drop the spring back into the left leg and thread the 20mm top cap on. On the 65mm fork, I used a 80mm spring. On the 100mm for, I used a 130mm spring. It was a pain in the ass to get it all the way down. But I did it. Shermans are notoriously undersprung anyways. If you really need to, you can always just lop off a bit of the spring. Remember to measure and think things through before you cut. Make the spring slightly longer than it has to be. The spring is slightly longer than it has to be when it comes with the fork too.

Add oil to the dampener side. I used a more viscuous oil to slow down the rebound in order to compensate for the added preload.

I was about 2.3 inches from the crown. Compress the fork regularly, oil will suck down into the rebound assembly. Oil heights are subjective. As long as it feels good, you're alright. Pop the 20mm top cap back on. After a few rides, check the oil height again.

There's a little writeup I did awhile ago.

I got the mnemesis kit for my z1 also. Its set at 80mm now. but i want to swap it for a rigid fork. I don't need the sus for street.

$hit, my bad. Youll like the gold label

get the flick. I have it and it is super nice:thumbsup: :D

Can you read?

I have a new 2005 Z1FR3 and am waiting on a project nemesis slamm kit... The slamm kit allows you to drop the fork down to 100mm, 80mm, or 65mm of tuned travel...


Does it work on an AM III or DJ II?
Where can I get one?

The gold label is one of the reasons I made the move to BMX, I broke two of them, one in a couple of months, and one in two weeks of recieveing my crash replacement. manitou took great care of me, but there were just to many issues.

Its a great fork, just watch your landings

(in all fairness to Manitou, I crash really bad!!!)

Good to know, thanks. I'm buying it new so hopefully, if anything goes wrong, I'll have good support from Manitou. I have a good local Manitou dealer close by as well, so that gives me some comfort.